Lava Rocks, Yellow Lakes and Dead Jellyfish in Sakurajima

Kyushu Backpacking Trip Day 4 - Summer of 2005

Day 4 into the great Kyushu adventure and we were packing again. Mt. Kaimon was not what Asen envisioned it to be. Before deciding on the Kaimon Sanroku Fureai Kouen, Asen had the brilliant idea of checking it out on a map of Kyushu. What he saw, he liked immensely. The mountain was nestled right next to the coastline and the camping ground was a dot surreptitiously close to the sea, giving the impression that the park was all but kissing distance from the beach. But of course, what we found was a different story.

Asen did not appreciate the complete lack of a beach in the area and even before we got back from climbing Mt. Kaimon the afternoon before, he was ready to yell bolt!

So we packed our bags yet again and headed out to our next destination: Sakurajima (Sakura Island).

Sakurajima was one of my firm demands. It was written in the guidebook as one of Japan’s (and the world’s) most active volcanoes. It boasts of a massive eruption in 1914, from which a peninsula was formed (thus Sakurajima is technically not an island anymore) and a field of lava rocks spread out from the foot of the volcano. I don’t know why I was so fixated with volcanoes, but I was. Asen agreed to go to Sakurajima, because, once again, after checking his trusty map, he found a lake close to the volcano and figured that was as good a place as any to go swimming.

From The Silken Backpack

Mt. Sakurajima seen from the ferry


We took a train again to get to Kagoshima and from there we went to the ferry terminal to board our boat which took us to Sakurajima island in less than 20 minutes. It was a fairly uneventful trip, but we found that the Lava Beach Esplanade (Taisho Lava Field) was very close to the station.

From The Silken Backpack

The Taisho Lava Field

This beach has one of the largest fields of lava rocks from the 1914 eruption of Mt. Sakurajima. We walked all over the brick road and I marveled at the lava rocks.

From The Silken Backpack

The Wizard of Oz-ish brick road of the Lava Beach Esplanade

The rocks themselves didn’t look all that strange. It had the color and texture of dark gray cement slathered on random places and spiked with a fork , creating an uneven surface and sharp edges. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed in it as I fully expected to see specimens that reminds of moon rocks. I was prepared to steal a lump, bring it home, and have a good time fooling everyone into believing that they were “alien” rocks.

From The Silken Backpack

Lava rocks Astonish-fail!

The Lava Beach Esplanade was interesting but it didn’t keep us enamoured for long. Asen’s desire for a swim overpowered his interest in rocks, so we took a bus to get to the “beach” along Sakurajima lake. The beach was once again, a disappointment. It was a moderate stretch of small river stones fronting a strange, milky lake. I was very suspicious of the water and refused to even so much as dip a toe in it’s murky depths. To make matters worse, it started to drizzle and it didn’t really look like the best time to go for a dip. But Asen’s mind was made up, he was going to get his swim! I watched from the shore as Asen and Ninon stripped to their underwear and went off running into the water.

From The Silken Backpack

The very suspicious looking lake

I stared at the Sakurajima volcano looming at a distance from the “beach”. I could smell something acrid in the air, and I started to imagine that the volcano was going to choose that moment to make an appearance again. I fancied that the rumbling magma underneath the earth was just waiting for our arrival to spout forth in a cataclysmic display of flame and spit. I decided the best way to find out if we were in mortal danger or not is to check the temperature of the water.

Gingerly, I walked to the edge of the water and put in my toe. It felt cool, just normal for a gloomy summer day. Mentally, I scrapped the possibility of an eruption. I was just about to return to the safety of 20 yards from the yellowish water when I saw something clear and gelatinous floating not far from me. I walked over and found a huge jellyfish floating… DEAD!

I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was my first time to see a real jelly fish in my life! And one that big! I ran off to grab a long twig from the beach, came back and started picking at the thing until I was able to puncture it with the twig and pulled it out of the water. The thing was hard but jiggly, and it was huge, like a double-D silicone breast implant! It was definitely bigger than the palm of my hand stretched out. I dropped the thing on the beach and continued prodding at it with the twig. I figured there must be more from where that came from, so I went back to the water in search for more dead jellyfish! And boy! I found about 10 of them! I grabbed each one and placed them on the pile of dead jellyfish that I made on the beach. I was starting to get alarmed. What the hell was in that water that killed off all these jellyfishes? Suddenly, I remembered that my friends were there, swimming in that Jellyfish-killing fluid!

I ran to the edge of the water and started screaming at Asen and Ninon to get the hell out of the water. They didn’t know what the hell I was yelling about but I just kept on shouting “Get your asses out of there!”

Ninon was looking at me, waving back and forth to let me know that they were doing fine, but I was having none of it. No amount of swimming was going to be worth something dreadful that was just waiting to happen in those waters. I could feel my face growing warm in irritation and I yelled at them once again to get out of the water. Finally they could see that I was seriously getting agitated. They reluctantly got out of the lake and I pulled them over to the pile of dead jellyfish that I had on the beach.

From The Silken Backpack

Grave of the Jellyfish.. eeuuwww!!!

I'm sure I acted like a kid unveiling a science project as I made them look at the pile on the stones and all but said "Voila!" in my eagerness to show them the reason behind my panic. They stared back at me and said "Well, Di, jellyfish die too."

I stared back at them, unsure of what I just heard, I said, "yuh! but not in hordes they don't!" in any case, I reckon they just humoured me by drying themselves up and preparing to leave.

We took a bus to go back to civilization and found an onsen/restaurant called Sakurajima Magma Hot Springs in one of the travel brochures of Sakurajima we got from the ferry station. We made a bee-line for that onsen and paid for our bath and settled into the restaurant for a quick meal. I went to the tables to study the brochures and maps for our next pit stop as Asen and Ninon gave our orders to the lady at the counter. When they came back they were laughing so hard, I didn't know what was going on.

As it turned out, the Japanese lady at the counter who was taking our order looked at Ninon and Asen then turned to look over at me and asked "O-kodomo sama deshou ka?" roughly translated to "Is that your child?"

From The Silken Backpack

The only working o-kodomo sama in this part of Kyushu

So! There I was, a grown 22-year old woman, just breaking through the barriers of my tween years and this old Japanese lady looks at me and sums me up as an unfortunate Asian child adopted by a Caucasian couple! I couldn't believe it! I seriously didn't know whether to be flattered or offended, but it sure cracked me up.

After our dinner of Nantanmen (ramen) Ninon and I entered the ladies' bath and we saw an onsen of yellow water (we were told it contains volcanic minerals which were good for the body) I was told off at this point because apparently, the lake water wasn't dangerous, it was just full of volcanic material. I just shrugged, rolled my eyes and said it was better to be safe than sorry.
After our bath, we started thinking about where to go to set up our tent. We realized we had to take the first ferry out of Sakurajima so we could maximize our time in our next destination: Aso san in Kumamoto. And what better place is at a close proximity to the ferry station than the ferry station itself?!

From The Silken Backpack

Right under that electric light is where we built our tent for the night. Picturesque view eh?

So, we hiked back to the Ferry station and built our tent underneath an electric light right in front of the entrance. We set our alarm clock really early to ensure that we got up before the police does. We ended the day with a couple of good laughs and another night sleeping in the most random of places.

Mission Accomplished: Setting Camp in Kaimon Sanroku Fureai Kouen

Kyushu Backpacking Trip Day 2-3 - Summer of 2005

The sun was barely rising when we cleared up our tent and started walking back the way we came last night. In the gentle light of dawn, we could make out Kagoshima bay edging one side of the highway in supple waves where moored boats swayed softly. The morning sun made the filmy surface of the water glisten - a completely different view from the rising sun peeking behind high-rises that we were so used to in Osaka. Everything, from the view to the smell to the slight moisture that settled on our skin felt country, provincial and strangely comforting.

From The Silken Backpack

The Edge of the highway which was nothing but darkness the night before


We finally arrived in Yamakawa station. After a quick visit to the restrooms, we checked the first train passing by going to the Kaimon Sanroku Fureai Park. We decided to buy our tickets and wait on the platform, which, in this small part of Japan, is nothing more than a strip of elevated concrete, probably only 15 meters long. The platform sat in the middle of the north-bound and south-bound rail tracks and to get from the station to the platform, one has to cross the tracks. We got onto the platform to wait for the train. It was starting to look like a pretty long wait when suddenly, Asen spied from across the tracks a patch of densely growing trees and several fruits that suspiciously looked like fingers spread out from a branch.

From The Silken Backpack

The Yamakawa Train Station - Sooo small!

Being the knowledgeable girl from the tropics in this company of European folk, I confirmed to their astonishment that they were, indeed, looking at real-life Banana trees. The train promptly forgotten, the tall Bulgarian man bounded the tracks and made a bee-line for the Banana trees. Ninon and I followed suit and I found myself promoted from the average back packer to “Nature Guide” I explained to them that the trunk of the banana tree is fibrous and that in the Philippines, pieces of the trunk often find its way on the buffet table, holding in place skewered fried hotdogs tipped with marshmallows. Well, of course, not everyone in the Philippines has a banana tree they can source from; therefore, as a highly resourceful race, we substitute the trunk with whatever is readily available to serve said purpose: half a cabbage, a pineapple, a watermelon or worst-case scenarios; styro foam wrapped in foil.

From The Silken Backpack

The Banana Tree in question

Asen continued to goggle and take pictures of the banana tree. He was especially enamored with the Banana heart, he couldn’t believe it was a flower, even after all my explanations (I even told him how we cook and eat the bloody thing). I stood there, proud in my knowledge of tropical flora and feeling strangely confident that I will be able to survive this trip as if I were some cast-away in Survivor: Japan.

From The Silken Backpack

Case in point: Skewered hotdogs tipped with cheese held in place by a pineapple
(photo taken from: http://regandmitzi.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/hotdogs.jpg)
and Skewered hotdogs tipped with marshmallows held in place by half a cabbage
(photo taken from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chboogs/1852355703/)

The sound of the approaching train alerted us and we hurriedly crossed the tracks and hopped back onto the platform. The train ride to the Kaimon park was quite interesting, we passed by several small mountains; almost rock formations similar to those protruding from the sea in Honda Bay or El Nido, Palawan. But these formations were on solid ground, sandwiched between rice paddies and fields of tall, swaying grass.

From The Silken Backpack

Weird Rock Formations in Kagoshima

After a couple of minutes, we alighted from the train and started walking uphill in the direction of the park. We had no idea where we were and all we had were the measly signs pointing us higher and higher up the residential hill. We tried to ask some passers-by for directions but we couldn’t understand their Japanese beneath the thick Kagoshima accent. After what seemed like ten to twenty minutes and with the summer sun already high above us, we found the gate of the park. We declared triumph and went through the entire procedure of paying the entrance and camping fees.

The camping ground in itself is nothing more than a wide expanse of grass dotted with some trees. The restrooms and kitchen area were nestled in opposite ends of the field. Ninon spotted a good-looking tree a bit in the distance and we decided to call that home, stopping short of actually peeing on the ground to mark our territory. Ninon and Asen fixed the tent while I looked on (Nature Guide only knows how to build huts from dried coconut fronds and knows nothing of these plastic, synthetic tents).

From The Silken Backpack

Our Tree and Our Tent

With our tent good and ready, we decided to cool off in the public pool next to the camping grounds. The pool was a pleasant surprise as I fully expected us to live like cave people and use huge taro leaves to gather water for a bath. Hehe. We spent a good bit of time in the pool before showering and going to the nearest store to buy food and some supplies.

Due to the uncomfortable sleep we had the night before, we spent a good part of the remaining day sleeping and just laying around on the grass, eating and smoking. We decided to turn in early in preparation for the next day, but not before placing a call to Viviane to check if she got back to Brasil safely.

The next day was another crisp morning and we all felt better after a good night’s sleep. Asen decided to walk around a bit on his own and Ninon and I fixed our tent, rinsed our clothes out and hung them out to dry. When Asen came back he wanted to sleep once again, so Ninon and I took our leave to go and climb Mt. Kaimon.

From The Silken Backpack

Sleeping Asen ski

Mt. Kaimon is a volcanic mountain 924 meters above sea level. It is ranked as one of the hundred best mountains in Japan. It has a slightly imperfect cone shape, but it looks nice enough that it is compared to Mt. Fuji. It is even known as the Fuji of Satsuma (an area in South-west Kagoshima)

From The Silken Backpack

Mt. Kaimon: The Fuji of Satsuma

The climb up Mt. Kaimon was relatively pleasant. The mountain floor is dense with growth and sprawling trees practically covered the sky giving it an almost rainforest-feel. The slope of the mountain is not very steep until you get two-thirds of the way up, and then the climb becomes challenging. We had to step over huge boulders on our way to the peak and it was rather dangerous.

From The Silken Backpack

Ninon, the Mountain Woman in a pristine white dress

When we got to a spot where we could see fantastic views of the ocean and the surrounding islands, we decided to stop climbing since we didn’t have any equipment and the rocks were looking unstable (our climbing gear was limited to sneakers for me and flip flops for Ninon). We stayed in that spot for a while and smoked a bit (healthy, yeah, I know).

From The Silken Backpack

Rolling post-climb joints. hehe

Our descent was more interesting as we spotted several neon-colored centipedes crawling over the rich, volcanic soil like creepy little aliens. I was so curious about the strange little critters that I made up a story in my head about how they were infused with volcanic heat and radioactive particles brought in by the sea from Nagasaki. Tucked somewhere in the middle of Mt. Kaimon is a giant, sleeping beast of a centipede which will emerge one day and become the worst enemy of Voltes V since Ultraman-Tika!

From The Silken Backpack

ULTRAMANTIKA to the rescue!!!

Right!

So, that didn’t really happen and Ninon and I got to the bottom of the mountain but instead of going back to the tent, we went around the park and found a grass-skiing facility which looked pretty cool. The breeze was fantastic there and we stayed a good bit just chatting about Japan and how much we’ll miss each other and some other cheesy topic * sniff sniff *
We got back to the tent at around 3pm and found the tall Bulgarian man still sleeping with his Jason Mraz hat covering his face. We spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging out, eating chips, drinking beer and eating cups of instant ramen and looking forward to the adventures of the next day

From The Silken Backpack

When we got back to the tent Asen was still sleeping. TAKU!

Sleeping Like the Dead in Ibusuki, Kagoshima

Kyushu Backpacking Trip Day 2 - Summer of 2005

Stepping off the Yamakawa station, we were met with a distant, consistent lapping sound and the stinging scent of densely saline water from the bay across the highway from the train station. The night was pitch dark and we could only see patches of the road from where lamps shone on tall electric posts. The whole day spent traveling and jumping on and off one train after another took its toll on us “backpackers” and all we wanted was to find a place to rest and sleep.

We started walking along the highway, looking for flat beds of soil where we could set up our tent. For some reason, we were in the middle of bloody nowhere and yet there was no place where we could set camp. We weren’t being choosy, all we wanted was a piece of land off the highway (we did consider setting our tent at the bank of the concrete road but figured it was too dangerous). We kept on walking and walking and every step made us more and more frustrated and tired. After a while, the three of us resembled crabby old men with knee problems who just wanted to be left alone.

Finally, we took an unpaved road branching off from the main highway. It was incredibly dark and we couldn’t see anything. We saw a house in the distance illuminated by one of those electric light posts. We heard a dog barking from somewhere in the yard. It wasn’t our first choice, but a yard meant a patch of land to set camp on. Ninon gingerly approached the house and called out to the owner. There was a light on inside the house but no one answered our call, maybe they thought we were something unsavory like thieves or ghosts or foreigners asking for a place to build a tent on.

After our unsuccessful attempt at begging for shelter like the Holy Couple of the Nativity (Ninon is Mary, Asen is Joseph and I’m the mule), we were almost at the breaking point from tiredness. We crossed the road from the house and found a wide space covered in gravel. Sleeping on gravel was not the most comfortable thing in the world, but we couldn’t care anymore. We started unrolling our tent and in less than ten minutes, the tent was set-up, we were inside, our towels were used to cushion our bodies against the sharp stones underneath and we didn’t speak a word to each other until one by one, we settled into the bliss of sleep.

It felt like I had barely closed my eyes for more than 10 minutes when I was woken up by the sound of gravel crunching. I opened my eyes wide and laid still. I could hear footsteps and 2 men talking in heavily accented Japanese, typical of country folk. After a while, I heard the sound of a car door open and close followed by the rythmic humming of an engine and the louder crunch of tires on gravel. I waited a couple of minutes until everything was quiet before I sat up in the tent. Slowly, I unzipped the window cover of the tent. I peeked outside and what I saw surprised me so much I didn’t know whether to laugh or scream.

All this time, we have been sleeping beside a graveyard. Our tent was standing at the edge of the cemetery and the gravel-lined parking lot. I stared at the vertical marble tombstones with the Japanese characters carved deep into the stone and filled in with black ink.

I started laughing and turned to wake Asen and Ninon up.

“Oy! We’re sleeping in a haka (Japanese for graveyard)!” I was giggling as I shook Ninon and Asen awake. They got up groggily and stared out the window. Asen stepped out of the tent and looked at the graveyard, his expression changing in the dawn from surprise to mirth. We looked at each other and just started laughing.

In the light of the morning, everything looked crisp, new and friendly. Even the discovery of sleeping beside the dead didn’t faze or scare us. We went on this trip for an adventure of a lifetime and, as we rolled our tent back, stuffed our towels into our bags and got ready for the new day, it seemed that the best is yet to come.

The End is the Beginning is the End - Tearful Goodbyes and The Great Kyushu Backpacking Trip Kick-off with the Seishuun Juuhachi Kippu

Kyushu Backpacking Trip Day 1 - Summer of 2005

The Great French/Bulgarian/Philippine Summer Backpacking Trip of Kyushu started on the day Viviane went back to Brasil.

It was a pretty strange day full of high emotions, both happy and sad. The entire thing started the day before, actually. We wrapped up the last day of the Senri International School Summer Program Batch 2 with a lot of hugs and tears. I was only teaching in that school for a couple of months and have been with each batch of kids for 2 weeks, but I couldn’t help crying as I watched them drive off in a long procession of buses.

From The Silken Backpack

The teachers and assistant teachers wave goodbye to the kids

The teachers and assistant teachers had our closing snacks, said our good byes to each other and after a while, I took my leave to do a final round of the school. I took pictures of the genkan, the halls, the music classroom, the English classroom, the cafeteria and even the bloody bicycle parking lot. I only had a couple of weeks left before I leave this, my university, my friends and Japan and it was starting to get to me.

I finally got on my bike and cycled away from Senri International School one last time. I biked all the way to Kita-Senri station where I was supposed to meet Viviane, Ninon and Toshi. It was Viv’s last night in Japan and she wanted to spend it clean.

From The Silken Backpack

Meeting up in Kita Senri Station. Photo taken by Ninon

She wanted to go to an Onsen.

Toshi was nice enough to drive us all to this Onsen in Kyoto where of course, he would have to go sit in a bath all by himself. But he was kinda cool about it. So Ninon, Vivs and I went to the onsen and chatted and steamed ourselves to our heart’s content. We found this oversized bowl and we all climbed in, not caring about personal space and the fact that our limbs were all tangled together, we couldn’t tell which arm belonged to whom and what.

It was, by far, one of the nicest memories I have of Japan. Sometimes when you choose a path outside of what is readily available to you, you tend to stumble upon the most precious of things. The blessings I received in Japan were glorious in number and scope, but nothing beats finding people you can love without question and without agenda. Because I met my two best friends in this country, Japan will always be special to me.

The next day, Ninon and I trooped to Viv’s apartment to go with her to the airport. We were already lugging our huge backpacks around since we were going straight to our overnight train after wishing Viviane bon voyage. Toshi was once again the designated driver and when we got to the airport, Viviane started crying and it was really sad. BUT THEN, she looked at the departures list and saw that her flight was going to be a good two hours late!

It was so funny coz Vivs started to complain that she went and got all teary-eyed only to find out that she wasn’t leaving yet. But, soon enough, it was time for her to board her flight and once more there were a lot of tears and as I watched her go through the gate, I couldn’t help wonder if I will ever see her again.

From The Silken Backpack

At the Airport before Bibi's flight back to Brasil (Which was rerouted to Peru. hehe)

Ninon and I said our goodbyes to Toshi and then we were off to catch the train from Kansai International Airport to Shin-Osaka station. Inside the train, Ninon and I didn’t say a word, we just sat across from each other quietly. My eyes brimmed with tears and before I knew it I was crying like mad. I looked up to check if Ninon could see me only to find out that tears were streaming down her face too. We stared at each other for a bit and then we started laughing. I’m sure the other Japanese people in the train thought we had gone and lost our senses, but it was just too hilarious at that time.

We arrived in Shin-Osaka station and met up with Asen. We grabbed some stuff to eat (and a couple of beers) to prepare us for the long overnight trip from Osaka to Fukuoka, in the southern island of Kyushu.

To be honest, I was a bit hesitant to join this backpacking trip in the beginning because I was trying to be conservative with my money. I just finished saving up for my exchange program tuition and I didn’t really want to spend much. But Ninon told me that we were gonna travel on the cheap the whole way and the primary requirement of the trip was that we would not spend on accommodations and sleep in our tent every single day. That sounded like an economical and novel adventure to me so I hopped onto the bandwagon and never looked back.

For our Kyushu backpacking trip, we used a ticket called “Seishuun Juuhachi Kippu” (Youthful 18 Ticket) This is a special ticket sold during the school holiday season. The entire idea behind this ticket is so that young people can travel around Japan for cheap and enjoy their youth. However, this ticket can be used by adults and foreigners as well, so I guess they’re pretty lax with the “youthful” concept. The Seishuun 18 Kippu can be used 5 times, for a midnight-to-midnight one day period per time. The ticket is pretty flexible, it can be used by 1 person for 5 days or 5 people for 1 day or any other combination. The ticket costs 11,500 yen and can only be used on local and rapid trains.

We took the Moonlight Shin-Osaka – Hakata train which was scheduled to leave Osaka at almost midnight and arrive in Hakata (Fukuoka) early the next day. Since I was traveling with 2 smokers, we took the smoking cars and man, did I smell like I spent the whole night clubbing. It was pretty fun though, but most of the time, I just slept. In the middle of the night I woke up with Ninon and Asen nowhere to be found. I freaked out and went around looking for them. I finally found them sleeping on the open luggage compartment at one end of the car. Apparently, their legs were too long, they couldn’t sleep well in their seats. That was one of the few instances where I was glad to be born short. Hahaha

From The Silken Backpack

Asen ski trying to sleep in the overnight train

We arrived in Hakata at around 8 in the morning. When we got out of the platform, we were surprised to see that they stamped our 18 kippu twice; one for the night before and one for that morning. In order to maximize our tickets we just decided to keep on traveling that day until we get to somewhere decent.

After a couple of hours doing research on the places to see in Kyushu, with special focus on camping grounds, we found this park at the foot of a dormant volcano in Kagoshima called “Kaimon Sanroku Fureai Kouen”. We all decided on this park and went back to resume our train-hopping adventure.

We were able to pass through Kumamoto and arrive in Hitoyoshi station without much incident. Upon our arrival in Hitoyoshi station, we found that we had almost 3 hours of waiting time for our connecting train. We decided to go out, grab something to eat and try our luck hitch-hiking to Kagoshima.

From The Silken Backpack

Figuring out what to do next in Hitoyoshi Station

We got to the main highway and we really made a funny sight, two tall foreigners and one small asian girl holding signs along the highway trying to flag cars down to give us a ride. As always, it was an embarrassing affair. People in cars passing by turned to look at us, smile or flat-out laugh without stopping to give us a ride. Finally, we decided to give up and go back to the train station to get on the connecting train.

From The Silken Backpack

Hitchhikers!!!

I was really glad our hitch hiking efforts were futile coz the train we took from Hitoyoshi to Yoshimatsu was really funky. It was called the Isaburou/Shinpei line which is an old model type train with no seats inside. The interior was done in a retro style and everyone sat on the floors. It was really cool and I enjoyed that train ride the most.

From The Silken Backpack

Funky Isaburo/Shinpei line train

It was almost dark when we got to Yoshimatsu and we had to change trains two more times to get to Kagoshimachuo. By the time we got there it was almost 9 in the evening and we took the last train of the day to Yamakawa station which was just one station away from the camping grounds of Kaimon Sanroku Fureai Kouen. We had to end our journey in Yamakawa however because the trains stopped running at that time. We checked our train map and were surprised to find out we were at the southern most train station in Japan!

It was insane! At that moment, we were literally at the bottom end of Kyushu! It has since then become one of my claims to fame; I have been to the last southern train station in Japan! Really, how many people can say that?